The Being and the Beast
by Mabel-Zen
Summary: A Tribute to the great Steve Irwin. RIP, ya larrikin!


**Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle, nor the creatures and people mentioned in the story. The inspiration of this story is a man in his own right.**

**Summary: This is a tribute to a man I respected as a great wildlife presenter and a wild and heard voice of the animals: Steve Irwin. He left this world in the passion of his job, and I hope he finds rest, knowing that he did his work well. God rest his soul.**

**Being and the Beast**

The animal lurked in the murky waters of the swamp. Its eyes glanced around itself, yellow ambers against the dark water and the black Pakari that protected it, and sparked no interest. Though you may not see it, this is a creature that manifested the strength of more than ten odd Tohunga in its lean, whipcord-muscled body.

See how the snout of the creature hovers above the water? That's how it breathes, and can take a capacity of air large enough to supply the creature with at least two hours of air for the dives it takes to hide, or to stalk prey.

It was a rare find: a creature of this size and stature. The creature was known to be of solitary nature, only ever socialising with the opposite gender, hence making them a scarcity on Mata Nui. However, this one is huge, and so close to Le-Koro! I wager that this beast is about the height of a Toa, and wider and heavier than even Toa Onua.

It was no creature to be taken lightly. Its reputable temper and aggressiveness when harassed have caused some Le-Tohunga to gather hunts for this wild creature, but Turaga Matau would have none of it. The Tohunga claim that this creature lived too close to their home and has endangered their lives as much as an infected Kane-Ra would, even if the flat black Pakari it possessed on its head was not infected -

The creature now turns its eyes toward our hiding spot. The nostrils upon its great head flared, the action of the animal sniffing the air for a scent. We were down wind, I was pretty sure, so it should not detect us.

The creature ambled a few steps towards us.

Suddenly, the nostrils rose and showed the exact reason why wise Tohunga never dare to provoke the creature: the jaws have come into view.

A great massive row of teeth that promised to end the life of whatever that went into the jaws came into view on the top jaw, and the lower jaw slowly rose from the waters, the substance that made the swamp rolling out of its mouth, flowing through the mentioned brown and yellow daggers the creature possessed. The yellow-tinged mouth was open to us, gaping straight at our faces.

I honestly do not know why on Mata Nui we are hiding in the thrush of the swamp, merely a stone's throw from the monstrosity. That creature did not show them now, but it has legs and claws, mighty legs of sinew and muscle that can power the large creature out of the water and straight onto the shore – where we were – at an alarming rate. The claws would make short work of me and the jaws would close on me.

Worse yet, if we took to the trees above the swamp, the creature boasted a mighty tail, one that tapered from its thick stump, its width about the length of my mask, to the tip, about the width of my fingertip. That tail can power that creature out of the water if it submerged into the waters and lunged out vertically at us. It also did not help that the trees at this part of Le-Wahi were notoriously short.

That creature's yellow eyes are staring at us, straight into our own. It was threatening us, I'm sure of it.

It was coming closer. That water stirred and oozed, the skin of the stagnant water disturbed by ripples the animal created, and the water lapped against the soft and soggy mud that was the unsteady ground we depended upon to help us make a quick getaway.

The creature was coming in close. One step. Two steps.

Too close.

"I'll quick-take it from here! Get out!"

* * *

A vine lashed forth, and a lasso found its way on the top jaw of the beast in the water. That was accompanied by another lasso that found itself firmly taut around the lower jaw of the beast.

A great roar ripped the air, and the beast thrashed its burly head about, slinking into the water.

"No you escapedon't!"

A large green figure rose from the thrush, the two lassos leading to the arms of the large being.

He stood his ground, as a multi-coloured being of shorter height darted away from where it stood behind him.

_The beast in the water did not eye its enemy, no; it did not even deign to glance at the green mass of flesh and bone that stood on land. That land-dweller, filthy land-dweller, had attacked it with something from its limbs, and it wanted none of this nonsense._

_The beast thrashed its head some more, and the being that stood on the shore withstood the shocks that ran through the vine. It gave a warning snarl that curdled in its throat._

"Need a hand?" a cry came from behind.

"I'm goodfine!" was the rejoinder, as he reeled in the vines by a hand-width.

_The large green land-dweller made some noise while it held the beast prisoner. It irritated the creature._

_It must have been a cry of dominance, and this creature was going to take his territory! It had the audacity to threaten, and even attack it, the king of the waters, and he shall not be defeated. It wanted to be left alone, and it shall have its peace._

The green being on the shore continued its wrangle with that creature. It had a mission to do, and it had to be completed. For his people at the village, for those who counted on him, he had to do what he was summoned to do. No one could do it. Only he could.

And he would.

He now strode into the water, twirling the loose vines that slacked, collecting them around his lower arms.

_The beast backed into the water, but could not as the imprisoning binds went taut once more. What was that being trying to do? It was coming into the water, into its territory! Did it not know that it would be bested in its territory by the one who was the true master of it? That being was coming closer and deeper into its home, its battlefield._

_What better time to attack than now?_

The green being leapt into the air, its Kanohi of levitation kicking into action and leaping clear of the creature, as the creature of the water lunged at the being. The mad rush stirred the silt of swamp bed, turning the dark black waters to a sickly brown as it crashed against the shore. It was a quick call, but now he imust/i make his move.

_The beast had little time to react to the sudden disappearance of its adversary, as suddenly something landed on its back, and proceeded to ensnare its jaws. It would have none of it, in fact it had enough. _

_This ends now!_

The being, now straddled upon the creature, felt the animal give a struggle, and braced itself, his grip on the sides and the vine lassos tightening. He knew what this animal was going to do. He predicted it would come to this.

_The beast turned to its side, dragging the being with him. It continued into a barrel roll, its yellow belly surfacing momentarily and plunging back into the waters, the sight of green hands and feet grasping the sides of the creature tightly. It persisted into a second roll, and a third followed without halting. The waters struck its sides and cascaded around its head dizzily, but the _thing _on its back was unperturbed._

_By the fifth tumble, the creature determined a disheartening thought: this attacker will not let go!_

The creature had no idea what would happen if he failed. If he failed, he would have failed the creature as well. There were others waiting, waiting ever so patiently at the village with daggers and catapults to hurt the creature, to wound the creature! He would never let them do that.

He had to save this creature! He must!

Hence he clawed in a little deeper, knowing full well of the armour he was embracing with his arms and legs, and held his breath as he was taken on another roll.

_The beast continued to churn, and now it was starting to tire. It could not take much of this anymore, it could not. The foe refused to give in, and neither did it. It was a fight to the bitter end, the animal surmised, as its legs gave one more heave and sent another barrage at the enemy. _

_It was to no avail._

_It cannot fail. It must not fail. It must not stop. It had to get it off – get it off! Get it off…_

Finally, after the umpteenth turn, the emerald green being could feel the beast beneath it slump, and sink into the water below it.

With much haste, the Miru on his face faded away from view and was replaced with an equally emerald Pakari.

Digging his hands around the massive sides of the creature, he heaved – and the creature rose from the murky depths.

Waist-high in swampwater, it was going to be a difficult push to get the creature to land, not to mention that he was more than exhausted.

Stumbling at each step, the green being hauled the creature to shore, his two arms dragging the creature by his side, one arm under the belly and the other wrapped to the opposite side of the languid creature. The jaws did not snap. The feet did not claw.

The beast had given in.

* * *

"Nice job, Toa Lewa!"

The crocodilian Rahi laid inert on the ground, claws bound to its side and its mouth securely tied, stared straight ahead, its yellow eyes no longer sparking with the rage it showed minutes ago. The creature's full body was in sight now, and was a horrendous mass of rough, spiky and scaly hide that coated the creature's top as armoury, and a softer yet thick skin that covered its belly and the underneath of its limbs.

The Toa accepted the axe he abandoned from Takua when he lassoed the trouble monster, and had a grin on his Miru, despite his heavy panting.

"Thanks, firespitter."

The Tohunga looked from the beast that had threatened them, and to the Toa's weapon.

"What are you going to do with it? Kill it?"

The Toa turned his head from the animal, and the Miru was etched with stark, vehement disgust.

"NO! Notnow, and notever!"

The writer was taken aback by the outburst.

"Why, Toa? This creature has been a pain to the Le-Tohunga, your people, for a long time. They say it's not of any use and should be better off dead."

"This creature," he turned to the beast, "is useful, firespitter. It's bigpart of bigforest, and importantmuch to the other animals!

"If this creature goes," his voice tuned into a much more serious tone, one that spoke of a grim ominous rationale, "the forest goes. Trees go. Brakas go. Bula berries go."

He pointed to himself, "_we_ go."

Silence filled the air, and the cries of the cicadas were more than palpable.

Takua nodded, fully taking in the lesson he was learning from the guardian of the air, and most seemingly the guardian of the forest too.

"We live in preciousfragile life, and depend on each other, even we depend on uglycreature like that," he pointed to the creature, which now dozed off, its eyes closed, "to keep the jungle everalive.

"So, littleone, we cannot quickkill the creature. We cannot kill _any_ creature like this, matterfact, because we need them to live so we can live.

"We have a closerelationship, a bond –" He tweaked his voice to liken that of his sister, Toa Gali, "- which cannot be broken, so we must safeprotect the creatures of Mata Nui. We never quickkill infected Rahi. We break Kanohi, and set them free.

And that, littleone, we must teach the Matoran, and we shall teach them by setting this swampking-" he winked at Takua, "- at swamp twenty kio from here, far from Le-Koro, and it shall live there and bide happy."

This, Takua nodded.

Turaga Matau had said that Toa Lewa was affectionate about the fauna of the jungle, but seeing it, for him was something else. Yes, the elder was right in every word. If he could care for even the most revolting creature he had ever seen and even save its life when no one else would, then truly, as Turaga Matau said, he cared for all.

And with that, the mighty Toa carried the beast single-handedly, with the aid of his Pakari, edging the beast to rest as comfortably in his arms as he could manage, and made his way through the swamp. Takua followed closely behind, admiring the Toa-hero.

* * *


End file.
